The tenth annual Small Press Expo, held in October in Bethesda, Md., was the biggest yet, with an official tally of more than 2,400 attendees. The SPX convention focuses on the creators and readers of small-press comics and graphic novels—the big publishers of American-style comics attend only informally, and the manga industry isn't involved at all. The stars of this show are independent comics publishers and the bulk of its tables are occupied by self-publishing cartoonists.
Among expo's larger publishers, Fantagraphics is continuing to ride high on its series of reprints of Charles Schulz's Peanuts; the second volume debuted at the show. The company announced a host of new projects for 2005, including a new quarterly paperback anthology, a hardcover collection of George Herriman's classic Krazy Kat Sunday strips and a graphic novel by Paul Hornschemeier, whose hardcover Sequential (AdHouse Books) also made its debut at SPX.
Drawn & Quarterly, gearing up for its new distribution deal with FSG, had only one new trade paperback at the show, David Collier's The Frank Ritza Papers. But D&Q did have several shorter titles on hand by hot artists, notably the first issue of Kevin Huizenga's Or Else, Anders Nilsen's Dogs & Water and Babel by David B.
Top Shelf hosted signings by two prolific cartoonists with new titles: Jeffrey Brown (Bighead) and James Kochalka (American Elf). Alternative Comics' table offered Joel Orff's Waterwise and Rick Smith's Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco. And NBM featured Patrick Atangan's Silk Tapestry and previewed Peter Kuper's reprint adaptation of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
SPX concluded with the presentation of the Ignatz Awards. Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Graphic Novel awards, to nobody's surprise, went to Craig Thompson's much-acclaimed Blankets (Top Shelf). Outstanding Series went to Carla Speed McNeil's cult favorite Finder.
